The Epiphany of the Lord

Sunday, January 07, 2018

“Every nation on earth will adore you, o Lord”, this refrain of the Psalm, written a long time before the nativity of Christ, reminds us about the meaning of this holiday: in the fact of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, it starts to shine the light for the world (the theme of the first reading today in a form of the prophecy from 7th century before Christ). This is the true epiphany of God’s plans, which speaks that God wants to save every human being, that all the nations could adore Him in the best way. It will be possible when the nations recognize the forthcoming of Messiah through the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who –as the only one– is able to bring peace on the earth. Jesus Christ’s coming is a preparation of His saving mission on the cross through which He will redeem the world, and thus He will enable it to adore the Lord properly. The Church, in the fact of Gods nativity proclaims exactly to all the nations this truth about salvation. St. Paul reminds us speaking about the mystery revealed to him by God: “It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles by the Spirit: that the gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus the gospel”. St. Paul tells us that the word of God proclaimed to all the listeners make them heirs of the salvation in Jesus Christ no matter of their origin, race, and social status. But they have to receive this message. The first who believed were Jewish people, apostles, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and the others. Later, thanks to the Jewish diaspora (people living within the Roman Empire) the gospel was embraced by the whole Mediterranean, so called Hellenistic world (the people speaking in Greek), and the others regions of the world. Thanks to the work of the previous generations of Christians we know today the gospel as well and we treat it as the good news of salvation for us in Christ. To us now lay the obligation to pass on it to the next generation: to our children, grandchildren, acquaintances, to the people from remote countries, where Christ is still not known.